


Nothing Is Coincidence

by Liyyah



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Fate & Destiny, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-01
Updated: 2015-11-01
Packaged: 2018-04-29 10:57:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5124935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liyyah/pseuds/Liyyah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times Oliver and Felicity almost or sort of met and the one time they really did.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing Is Coincidence

**Author's Note:**

> This whole fic was written around the quote "Sometimes the universe really wants two people to end up together."

Oliver hid behind a tree, not moving a muscle in fear of being caught. Tommy had decided that they should play one of their versions of hide and seek. So there he was, barely even breathing and super focused on his surroundings because he was going to win this time.

But then a girl ran past, her laughter getting lost in the wind.

For a moment Oliver forgot he was playing a game as his eyes found themselves drawn to the girl.

Her light hair was in a ponytail and she wore glasses. She was running after another girl and Oliver guessed that they were playing tag. Or something else like it.

She grinned as she chased after her friend and Oliver couldn’t help but notice that she had a very nice smile.

This girl was very pretty.

She made his stomach do flip flops.

Suddenly, she tripped and before Oliver knew what was happening, the girl was sprawled out on the ground.

Forgetting himself, he almost rushed over to make sure she was alright but before he could take a step away from his hiding place, she was already surrounded by several other girls.

He heard their worried voices as they all asked if she was alright and Oliver waited for an answer with his heart racing in his chest.

But the girl merely brushed them off, standing up and dusting herself off as she declared that she was fine.

Oliver was impressed.

And then, with a mischievous smile appearing on her face, she tapped the girl closest to her, yelling out _“Tag you’re it!”_ before racing off as fast as her legs could carry her, taking full advantage of the situation.

Oliver couldn’t stop his own grin because that was so something he would do.

He wanted to be her friend.

“Oliver run!” Barry called out all of a sudden, breaking him out of his thoughts.

His eyes widened as he spotted Tommy headed right in his direction and he immediately took off.

Just like that, he remembered his game and became concerned with beating his best friend again and the girl with the glasses was forgotten.

He didn’t think about her for the rest of the day.

He didn’t think about her again.

 

Felicity didn’t really go to parties. They generally weren’t her thing. And those were high school parties that her classmates would have at their houses.

So a huge paint party filled with the entire population of Starling City? Definitely not her thing.

But before she could protest, hell before she’d even _heard_ of the party, Sara bought them all tickets because some band that she and Iris were crazy about were playing.

So there she was, in the middle of an enormous crowd, getting shoved around and freezing because they were close enough to the stage to get soaked with paint that was unusually cold.

She really needed a drink.           

“I’m going to get something to drink!” she yelled into Iris’ ear, the only way she could possibly be heard.

“Me too!” Laurel chimed in, observing their little exchange and seeming all too relieved for an excuse to get away.

Iris made some sort of hand gesture to signal that she had heard them without removing her eyes from the stage and Sara didn’t even bother to acknowledge them.

Already, they were both fighting to get even closer, now that they weren’t restricted by Felicity and Laurel and they weren’t even gone yet.

Clutching her friend’s hand, Felicity battled her way out of the pulsing crowd with Laurel in tow, both of them taking deep breaths when they finally managed to escape.

Then, they had to walk all the way over to the little booths that were selling chits for the drinks, _really Felicity couldn’t understand why they couldn’t just buy the drinks instead of buying these things to exchange for the drinks this is like the barter system all over again,_ and eventually, they each held cups of alcohol in their hands.

“My top is ruined,” Laurel complained after taking a sip, looking down at her paint splattered outfit. “And this is my favourite.”

“Who told you to wear your favourite top to a _paint_ party,” Felicity snorted, earning herself a glare from the brunette.

“Shut up,” she mumbled, causing Felicity to laugh.

With nothing else to do, Felicity and Laurel ended up drinking way more than they should have and soon, they were a complete mess.

The world was spinning and everything appeared to sparkle and Felicity didn’t know why but every word coming out of Laurel’s mouth was hilarious and whenever she laughed, she set her friend off too.

“There you two are!” Sara exclaimed suddenly, breaking them out of their conversation about colours because Laurel was insisting that if orange was a person, it would be a girl but Felicity _knew_ that orange would be a boy.

“If orange was a person would it be a girl or boy?” Felicity fired, her words slightly slurred, _only slightly_ because she was just a little buzzed it was nothing much.

“Oh god how much did you have to drink?” Sara groaned.

“We only had like two cups!” Laurel exclaimed, causing her sister to shoot her a look which screamed that she was calling bullshit.

“Sure you did,” Iris responded drily.

“Thank god Donna sleeps like the dead because if we had been going back to our house with the both of you like this dad would kill us,” Sara said.

“I am perfectly fine!” Felicity huffed, folding her arms indignantly.

“Of course you are,” Iris said gently, wrapping her arm around Felicity which she suspected was to help keep her upright but she didn’t protest because truthfully, she could use a little assistance.

She would never admit it though.

“Now, let’s go home,” Iris announced.

“Is your band finished playing?” Laurel asked.

“We wouldn’t be here if they weren’t would we?” Sara shot out.

“That’s mean!” Felicity yelled, causing Sara to send her a glare but Iris shot the same look right back at Sara.

Felicity decided that Iris was her new favourite friend.

“Yes Laurel, our band is finished playing,” Iris answered _nicely_ and not mean like some other people. “Now, come on let’s head out.”

They started walking towards the exits when all of a sudden Felicity remembered the remaining drink tickets sitting in her pocket.

“Wait!” she exclaimed, coming to a stop.

“What is it?” Sara asked.

“I have all of these still!” Felicity said, pulling the little pieces of paper out of her pocket.

“And...?”

“I can’t let them go to waste!” she declared as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“I think you’ve had enough to drink,” Iris said wearily.

“No! I’m gonna give them away,” Felicity explained.

“To who?” Sara asked impatiently.

“To the hottest guy I see,” Felicity announced proudly.

That was such a good idea.

“Fine,” Sara sighed. “Look around.”

Following her friend’s orders, Felicity inspected the crowd around her, all the other people who didn’t want to be pushed and shoved and yelled at or just didn’t like the current band playing.

There was literally not one hot person.

She was ready to scream, or just give away her chits to any random soul but then, she saw _him._

The hottest guy she had ever laid eyes on. Ever. In her entire life.

“That guy!” she said, pointing in his direction, never taking her eyes off him.

“He is fine,” Iris mumbled.

“Yes!” Laurel exclaimed.

“Go!” Sara demanded excitedly, pretty much pushing her towards him.

Already unsteady, Felicity stumbled for a moment but then she was fine and everything was fine and she was going to be fine and oh god she couldn’t believe she was doing this.

Felicity walked right up to the guy, her heart pounding in her chest in time to the music that was being blasted but his back was towards her.

Without thinking, Felicity tapped him on his shoulder before she could chicken out and run away.

He turned around and Felicity almost fainted.

He was so much hotter up close.

She should have chickened out and ran away.

Mute, she shoved the tickets out towards him, her eyes wide because again, how was it possible to be so attractive.

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he took her in, this messy overly awkward girl who was so out of her element.

Something about him and the way he was looking at her caused butterflies to flutter about in her stomach.

His deep blue eyes, _like_ _so deep and so blue that she could drown in them_ , fell on her outstretched hands and her offering.

His mouth moved as he pointed at her but Felicity couldn’t hear a word he said over the music which was only growing louder by the second.

She was thinking that maybe he was thinking that she was asking him to get her a drink.

At least that’s what she guessed.

“No!” she yelled, wildly shaking her head. “For you!”

She then pointed at _him_ before giving up and just shoving the things in the palm of his hand.

Not sticking around to see his reaction to her...whatever it was she just did, Felicity immediately whirled around and headed back to her friends who had been eagerly watching the whole exchange.

Her face was red and she was filled with embarrassment and she was pointedly ignoring the way her hand seemed to burn where her skin had met his.

She should have let him get her a drink.

She should have never even approached him in the first place.

“I can’t believe you did that!” Iris exclaimed.

“You basically just bought him a bunch of drinks you should have gotten his number,” Sara stated.

“Yeah did you even get his name?” Laurel inquired.

“No and why didn’t you guys tell me this before!” Felicity yelled exasperatedly, wanting to strangle the Lance sisters.

They shrugged in unison and yep she was definitely gonna kill them.

Felicity went home that night still thinking about Mystery Hot Guy as they all deemed him and even the next morning, with a pounding head and violent stomach he was still in her thoughts.

But soon, he faded away, lost in her clutter of memories, just a random guy from a distant night.

And just like that, he was forgotten.

 

Oliver slowly opened his eyes, the light coming in through the windows instantly blinding him and making his massive headache worse.

He stifled a groan, struggling to sit up as he took in his unfamiliar surroundings.

As he looked around, he spotted an MIT sweatshirt thrown haphazardly over the back of a chair.

He wasn’t even at the right school.

The events of the night before were a blur, as usual and he had no clue as to how he ended up here. He couldn’t help but wonder where Tommy had found himself this morning.

Quietly, he climbed out of bed and began getting dressed, careful not to wake the blonde sprawled out between the sheets whose name he couldn’t even remember.

The contents of his stomach threatened to empty themselves and he felt like someone was pounding a hammer against his head but somehow, he managed to get ready before successfully making his escape.

The last thing he needed was some girl giving him her number while he shot her fake smiles and lied through his teeth as he promised to call her.

He really couldn’t do that today.

So as he gently shut the door, he thanked whatever higher power was listening for letting him get out of that one.

But just before he began his walk of shame all the way back to Harvard, he caught sight of a girl a few doors down, holding one of those cup holders with four Starbucks and a bag of something else which Oliver guessed was donuts.

She had black hair and black clothes and black lipstick and everything about her screamed goth and nothing about her should even appeal to Oliver and yet for some reason he couldn’t look away.

Something about her made his heart speed up a little.

Goth Girl as Oliver immediately deemed her, was struggling to get the door open with her hands full. He could see the frustration written on her face as she mumbled, _or at least tried since he could hear her from where he stood_ , a series of expletives.

He couldn’t help but smile.

With her tiny frown and the tip of her tongue just barely sticking out of her mouth as she concentrated on unlocking the door, scary mean Goth Girl was well....adorable.

Finally, she got it open and the grin that lit up her features was so bright it almost blinded Oliver.

A smile like that could make flowers grow.

As she entered the room and closed the door behind her, Oliver ignored the twist of his stomach and the strange feeling that he had lost something which promptly descended upon him.

Shaking his head, he broke out of his trance, blaming his brief infatuation on someone like her on the amount of alcohol he ingested last night. He was obviously still a bit drunk.

As he headed back to school, he pushed Goth Girl out of his mind, refusing to dwell on her for even a second.

And in an instant, she became forgotten.

 

Felicity bit her lip as she scrutinized the books she held in each hand. Her heart was telling her to just get both but her head knew that she could only afford one.

She hated her head.

She sighed as she considered if she really needed another fantasy book but then again there was magic involved and that was her ultimate weakness but the other one was about kings and queens and historical stuff was her favourite and yep she still had no idea what to get.

“I’ll only take a second I swear!”

Felicity looked up, broken out of her thoughts by the sudden assault of a voice that was much too loud for a bookstore.

She spotted a little girl with brown hair racing towards the children’s section and couldn’t help the smile that appeared on her features as she remembered when that used to be her.

The overenthusiastic girl running through the bookstore and babbling loudly about which ones she should get and pointing out her favourites on the shelves.

Her mother always followed her, listening as she rambled. Although Donna never really saw the appeal in books, she humoured her daughter anyway, ignoring the endless glares of everyone in the store as Felicity would knock something over or talk too loudly.

Instead of a mother however, it was a guy who looked about her age who followed the tiny brunette, a weary expression on his features.

He had dark blonde hair and just the right amount of scruff and a jawline to die for. His eyes were really blue. Like so blue that Felicity could drown in them.

Something about him tickled the edge of her memory but Felicity couldn’t place her finger on it.

He seemed just the tiniest bit familiar even though she was sure she would remember if she had ever seen someone so attractive before.

“Just hurry up,” he sighed, glancing at his watch. “Mom will kill us both if she finds out we’re here. You’re supposed to be grounded remember?”

“Exactly. I’m already grounded so what else can she do?” the girl shot back, grabbing a book off the shelf. “I have nothing to lose.”

“Your life,” her brother retorted. “You have your life to lose.”

“You’re so dramatic,” she mumbled, flipping through the book in her hands as she seemed to be deciding if it was worth buying.

Hot Guy as Felicity silently deemed him raised his eyebrows and looked as if he was about to say something else but he only shook his head, choosing not to argue.

Felicity could tell that he lost most of his battles with her.

“Okay...I think I’ll take this one,” the girl said slowly.

“Are you sure?” Hot Guy asked, hearing the uncertainty in her voice. “That needs to last you the next two weeks. Three if we end up getting caught.”

“So you’re not going to sneak me anywhere else after school again?” his sister pouted but her brother only glared at her.

“No,” he answered firmly.

She continued to pout.

Felicity didn’t think she’d ever seen such a sorrowful expression. This girl was good.

But Hot Guy was obviously immune to her tactics, meeting her gaze with a steely one of his own as he refused to back down.

He was even better.

Or at least he was for three more seconds before his resolve finally weakened.

“Fine,” he sighed, admitting defeat. “I’ll take you for ice cream on Thursday.”

Felicity smiled triumphantly to herself as she realised she was right about him always losing to her.

“Yay!” the brunette exclaimed, her entire face lighting up.

Hot Guy’s expression immediately softened, the corners of his mouth turning up.

That simple smile set off an explosion of fireworks in her stomach.

“I can’t believe I’m risking my life for you,” he said even though Felicity guessed that he would do anything for her.

And his sister knew it too.

“Oh please. You love me,” she grinned, looking up at him.

“Unfortunately,” he commented drily, resting a hand on her shoulder as they began walking towards the cashier.

As they disappeared from Felicity’s line of sight, she could still hear him asking again if she was sure about the book and an exasperated reply of _yes Ollie if I wasn’t I would have put it back._

Felicity stifled a laugh at the fiery response.

A part of her suddenly longed to know the fierce hurricane of a girl and her brother who looked at her with complete adoration and let her win all of their fights.

Blinking, she quickly pushed that thought away because _what the hell Felicity_.   

Looking back down at the two books she still held, Felicity began her internal debate once more, focusing all her energy on her choice.

And just like that they became another ordinary pair of siblings that she would never even see again.

Just like that, the boy with the blue eyes was soon forgotten.

 

Oliver was late. He was so late.

But really it wasn’t his fault that his alarm didn’t go off this morning. Although he supposed it would have helped if he had actually set it the night before.

But it wasn’t his fault that he forgot!

People forget things sometimes. He just forgot them more than the average person.

Oliver sighed as he hurried out of the little Starbucks that was on the way to QC because of all the days his coffee maker had to suddenly stop working it just had to be this one. He was pretty sure his appliances were conspiring against him.

Plus, he was supposed to have an interview with some new person for the Head of the IT Department position and this guy was apparently a genius or something.

Or so his father had said. Well something to that extent at least. He really needed to start paying attention when he was talking about work.

If he was still alive after today at least because Robert was going to kill him once he heard about this.

Suddenly, Oliver bumped into something, a _someone_ he quickly realised by the yelp that escaped from the other person’s throat but before he could even dwell on _that_ it hit him that there was something hot and wet all over him and good God his coffee was now spilled all over his shirt just great.

“I’m so sorry!” a high pitched voice belonging to the person who was the cause of his ruined clothes blurted out.

Oliver looked up from the huge stain he was inspecting and all of a sudden every bit of air was stolen from his lungs.

This girl was beautiful.

Her blonde hair was in a ponytail and she wore glasses and something about her seemed oddly familiar but Oliver couldn’t pinpoint it.

Besides, he was pretty sure he would remember if he had ever met her before.

“It’s okay,” he replied gently, taking in her wide eyes filled with worry.

“No it’s not I wasn’t watching where I was going but I’m just really late and I spilled coffee all over you and your shirt is _white-_ ”

“Hey,” Oliver cut her rambling short, trying to disguise the amusement in his tone because this girl was adorable.

He would let her spill coffee on him every day.

“It’s really okay,” he assured her, flashing a small smile.

She merely nodded and sent a little smile of her own in return.

The simple act of the corners of her mouth turning up was enough to send butterflies fluttering about all over his stomach.

He wanted to know this girl. _Really_ know her. And that wasn’t something Oliver wanted a lot when it came to women. Hell, with anyone for a matter of fact.

So he opened his mouth to ask her name and possibly a number if he turned on his charm, job interview be damned he would happily take death from his father if it meant he could spend a few more seconds with this girl.

“Anyway I have to go I’m really late sorry again!” she babbled quickly before Oliver could even get a word out, turning on her heel and running off as fast as her legs could carry her, leaving him with his jaw still hanging open.

“Bye then,” he said to the air, still staring at the space she was standing only moments ago.

Ignoring the little twist of his heart at her disappearance he headed for his car and continued towards QC, trying not to think about the fact that he would probably never see her again.

Trying not to think about the fact that she would one day be forgotten.

 

Felicity was breathless by the time she finally arrived at QC.

She was so late.

Of all the mornings her alarm clock had to go haywire and decide not to wake her it just had to be this one. And usually she’d set the one on her phone too as a precaution but of course she forgot to charge it the night before so the battery was dead and everything was a mess.

“Hi I’m here for the nine o’ clock interview with Mr. Queen,” she said, rushing over to the receptionist as she struggled to fill her lungs with air.

“Of course. Right that way,” the brunette pointed her in the direction of his office with a reassuring smile that Felicity was extremely grateful for at that moment.

Even if she didn’t get this job because of her tardiness and making him wait for ages at least a stranger was nice to her.

Well, _anothe_ r stranger.

Hastily, she pushed that thought out of her mind because the last thing she needed right now was a mental image of that very hot guy from this morning to make her more flustered than she currently was and oh god her stomach was already doing flip flops.

Or maybe that was nerves.

She would shoot herself if she threw up and oh great another worry to add to her ever growing list.

Pausing outside the office she was instructed towards, Felicity took a deep breath, trying to convince herself that it would be alright.

Gathering up all her courage, she finally walked in.

At the sound of her heels clicking against the floor, the man seated at his desk looked up.

And Felicity’s heart stopped beating.

_It was him._

Her hot mystery stranger from this morning.

The guy she spilled coffee all over.

_She spilled coffee all over Oliver fucking Queen._

Felicity stopped dead in her tracks as all she could do was stare with wide eyes at the man in front of her while wondering what sort of cruel joke the universe had decided to play on her.

Oliver Queen, _her potential boss,_ although she was pretty sure there was no way in hell she was getting this job now, stood up and began walking towards her.

“So you’re the computer genius I’m supposed to interview this morning,” he said, a hint of a smile appearing on his features.

Felicity tried not to blush at the fact that he called her a genius because she’d known that for years but there was something about the way he was looking at her that caused her stomach to do flip flops.

“Mhm,” she replied as she nodded, still trying to find her voice. “And you’re the guy I spilled coffee on.”

“I already told you that it was okay,” he said but Felicity still very much wanted the ground to open up and swallow her.

“Look, you can’t even see anything,” he continued, still trying to make her feel better as he gestured towards his jacket which did hide his shirt and any incriminating stain pretty well.

“I can’t believe you’re the one that’s being super nice right now when I basically assaulted you with your own drink,” Felicity sighed.

Oliver laughed in response, the corners of his eyes crinkling and shit Felicity was doomed.

That was it.

Goodbye world.

She was nothing more than a freaking puddle on the floor.

“How about we start over?” he suggested.

“Fine with me,” she replied, trying to appear professional and acting like his smile didn’t just kill her.

“I’m Oliver Queen,” he stated, holding out his arm as he “introduced” himself.

“Felicity Smoak,” she said, unable to hide her own smile as she shook his outstretched hand.

Their little handshake lasted a few moments too long to be considered purely professional and Felicity flexed her fingers once her hand fell at her side again, trying to ignore the way her skin seemed to burn where he’d touched it.

Trying not to think about the way every cell in her body felt as if it were on fire.

Wordlessly, Oliver led her towards his desk where he interviewed her for the job she had wanted for so long.

Because somehow, Queen Consolidated always felt right to her.

And as her and Oliver’s voices and quiet laughter echoed off the walls, she suddenly felt as if everything was falling into place.

But she shook away the thought, telling herself that she was just overly relieved it was all going so well.

However, on that day, the puzzle pieces of Oliver and Felicity’s lives slowly began fitting together.

Oliver finally had a name for the little girl he had seen at the park when he was just a boy. And the goth he spotted at MIT after a wild night. And the blonde with the glasses who spilled coffee all over his shirt.

Felicity finally knew who her Mystery Hot Guy was. And the older brother who let his sister win every argument just to make her happy.

After all these years, they _finally_ got it right.

In this world, there’s no such thing as coincidence. Everything happens for a reason. And sometimes, the universe really wants two people to end up together.

This time, neither one of them would be forgotten.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a mess but I've spent ages trying to write it because I'm drowning in school work. Anyway I finally finished and I didn't write 4k words for nothing so here's this thing. Thanks for reading!


End file.
